Alongside their regular monthly business, including committee reports and policy updates, the RM of Rosedale dug into two significant issues with presentations to Council this month.

Before they got to those, they powered through some routine business including approval of some training time for staff, contributions to the Beautiful Plains Clinic and Neepawa and District Chamber of Commerce, appointment of a councillor to the Westlake Employment board of directors, and updates to the land sale policy and complaints procedures policy.

Council was presented with a five-year bridge maintenance report that would allow them to spread out their potential expenses and triage their many repair items. Some of the damage was due to this year’s flooding but most of it was wear and tear from years of use. Eleven sites were inspected, of the dozens that exist throughout the municipality, and three of those eleven were flagged as having more urgency to their repairs. At least one of the bridges they inspected was identified by Council as belonging to the Whitemud Watershed Conservation District and not the municipality so this information will be passed on to that organisation as well. Council decided to repair some of the minor damage through their public works department and tender out the more significant items, particularly those that require some engineering.

They were also visited by a delegation to present a landfill feasibility study overview. Rosedale has been struggling to expand their landfill or find a new site somewhere in the municipality, as they are unable at this time to join Neepawa and other local municipalities in their recycling and landfill partnership at Evergreen Environmental Technologies. A new landfill cell would have to be lined with clay of a certain density and the sites that the municipality has investigated don’t have clay of the necessary quality. Council elected to investigate a few other potential sources and their associated costs and the delegation will submit a summary of potential solutions.

A third delegation had been scheduled but was unable to attend the meeting due to inclement weather.

Also covered were staff reimbursements, a short-term boil water advisory, and the CAO monthly report. The 2023 financial plan is in progress and will be presented in the spring.